Wise Hope, Quiet Courage & Gentle Peace
Our Blessing for a New Year
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But our grandmothers saw this coming…
So under the slightest light
Of a crescent glimmer
They birthed and mended and dreamed up
What it might be that we would need
To transform and be transformed
By these strange and heartbreaking and hopeful times.
Excerpt from L. Sixfingers, 2021
It is strange out there.
It is strange in here.
And still—
Peace.
For this new year,
Help us to
Lean into peace,
No matter
What
Is
Happening.
Peace, no matter what is happening.
Peace, no matter the moment.
Not fancy-schmancy peace.
Not prematurely transcended peace,
Not peace, separate from life.
Peace in life.
Peace
In
The
Moment.
Resting.
Relaxing.
Stopping.
Praying for the quiet courage
To stop…
Stopping the chatter.
Stopping the busy mind.
Stopping the
Internal
Mumbling
Of the Kingdom
Of
Doom.
Turning off
That channel.
Turning on
The channel
Of hope.
That is an act
Of quiet courage.
Wise hope.
Not hope, to check out with.
Hope, to check in with.
Wise hope.
Wise hope.
For 2023,
May we
Practice
Wise hope.
May we practice
Quiet courage.
And
Gentle
Peace.
~~~
Roshi Joan Halifax says,
but rather seeing things as they are,
including the truth of suffering—
both its existence and our capacity to transform it.”
~~~
Give us the courage
And the willingness
To touch into the truth
Of our own suffering,
As we are able.
Give us the courage,
Quiet courage,
And the willingness
To imagine
Our capacity
To transform
What is around us,
And
What is inside
Of us.
~~~
Friends,
We are meant to be here,
Right here.
Right now.
We are the ones to witness,
To be present with
The changes,
The unravelings
Around us.
We are equipped
And
We
Are
Able.
Leaning into the tripod;
Wise hope,
Quiet courage,
And gentle peace.
~~~
For our hearts, as the old year departs, as this new year opens her arms to us, here is IZ Kamakawiu’ole, Hawaiian singer, songwriter, musician, and Hawaiian sovereignty activist. This song offers us the beauty in endings as well as beginnings, in dying as well as in living. Please watch till the end:
~~~
Dear Friends,
Wise hope,
Quiet courage,
And
Gentle peace
To you
And
Yours—
May your new year
Be filled
With Grace
Stay blessed,
Aruni